WE WANT ‘EM ALL: 108 US Age-Groupers Participated In Greco This Week Overseas

If you listen closely, you can hear the drumbeat growing louder and louder.

108 United States age-group athletes in four different countries have been getting their Greco on this week. As previously covered in the latest Monday Roundup, Legends of Gold/IDA came away with four gold medalists and 22 overall placewinners at the enormous Easter Tournament in Utrecht, Holland on Sunday, and that considerably large group of 41 wrestlers is currently staying put in the Netherlands to finish up their training camp. Meanwhile in Estonia, another 48 youths battled it out over the weekend at the Tallinn Open, another huge, highly-competitive event with Americans drumming up three champs across three age divisions. And yes, just like the bunch in Holland, everyone stuck around to get some additional on-the-mat education the rest of the trip, which wrapped up today.

It doesn’t end there. At the same time in Bulgaria, Ivan Delchev, who helped out with the Cadets at last year’s World Championships, had a group of eight Delchev Trained Academy athletes who competed in the Dinko Petrov Tournament. There, his wrestlers walked away with a gold, a silver, and a respectable fifth. Finally, well-known US Greco-Roman coach Ahad Javansalehi brought 11 of his Finger Lakes Wrestling Club kids over to Malmo, Sweden where they have been training alongside a collection of high-speed foreign partners presided over by accomplished instructors.

The math is easy. 41 in Holland + 48 in Estonia + 8 in Bulgaria + 11 in Sweden = 108 US youth athletes participating in Greco-Roman overseas. A productive if not downright crazy week if there ever was one.

Regular readers of the Coach Lindland’s Report know that creating opportunities for developmental competitors is of a high priority for the American program. It is also a concept that Lindland has been extremely vocal about ever since he took over as the National Team head coach in 2014, and it is where he sees the premier benefit for age-group wrestlers who have their eyes on graduating to serious international competition. But in order for that directive to be met, coaches across the country have to step up, which is exactly how this record-breaking week came into fruition to begin with.

“I love the opportunity Jared Lewis has provided for our US athletes,” says Lindland, who along with Gary Mayabb was in Estonia with Lewis’ group. “We need more and more coaches getting their athletes opportunities, whether they send their athletes on a tour like this, or they take their own trip with their club. We do have a few incredible volunteer coaches who do both and we are grateful. We also have a coach (Mark Halvorson) who every year provides opportunities for our US athletes to compete internationally on our own turf, the Junior Greco Duals in Concord, California. That is the only annual tournament that brings the world to us. We need to increase our international presence in all age groups if we want to become the best in the world. We just need to grow our Greco coaches and supporters, and it’s happening. That’s why we’ve had over 100 athletes in Europe this week.”

QUITE A GROUP: A look at all of the athletes participating in the Tallinn training camp in Estonia. (Photo: Gary Mayabb)

Lindland is one piece of the puzzle, and considering the plethora of responsibilities continuously staring him in the face regarding the Senior program, it is equally mind-boggling and admirable he’s done as much as he has in a relatively short amount of time. It’s a testament to his energy. Of course when it comes to energy, Mayabb is nearly unmatched and stands as the other puzzle piece intended to render the big picture.

As the US Greco-Roman Operations Manager, Mayabb is tasked with providing resources to everyone — athletes, coaches, volunteers, and even parents. While he is dedicated to putting plans together centered around instruction and developmental concerns at home, Mayabb is just as passionate about giving age-groupers healthy doses of foreign experience whenever such trips are available. Unsurprisingly, he kept a grateful and encouraged tone when speaking about what has transpired this week on the other side of the Atlantic.

“Thank you to the 108 student-athletes who are getting a tremendous European wrestling experience due to the efforts of their dedicated tour organizers, coaches, Greco supporters, and parents who have made a focused commitment towards advancing Greco-Roman Wrestling in our country,” Mayabb said Wednesday. “Jared Lewis has provided a training experience that all of our American Greco-Roman Wrestlers need if they intend to level up to UWW (United World Wrestling) competition. It has been a true joy to work with this group of talented young athletes from across our nation and we are very excited to track their future growth as they advance the wrestling careers they are creating.”

There will be more weeks like this one, and sooner than you might think. Coming up in the early-summer, 2018 Cadet World Team co-coach Lucas Steldt is taking a delegation of his Go Greco USA athletes to Croatia and Serbia, just like he did a year ago. Other tours for Greco youths are reportedly in the works, as well. This has all been part of a plan that seemed to have its fair share of stops and starts and is now beginning to snowball into something maybe even greater than originally imagined. But that doesn’t mean a break is due, at least not according to Lindland. The way he sees it, the opportunity for US kids to participate in foreign training will remain critical in order to bridge the folkstyle disconnect that Greco constantly contends with stateside.

“This is how we beat the rest of the world in Greco-Roman, we get our athletes competing overseas,” Lindland declares. “We have kids who dream of winning state titles when we need young men who dream of Olympic glory.”